Carn Mor Strictly Limited Fettercairn 2009 (6 year old) 46%...

Vidda Torr Gin 43%

Botanicals include: Juniper, heather, yarrow, chamomile flower, bilberry, angelica root, meadowsweet, sorrel, calamus root, elderflower and pine shoots.

Tasted: juli 2016

Glacial fresh aromas of intense juniper with hints of pine and elderflower. There is a slightly oily spirit character which balances and with time a light floral/ heather-like note appears.

The palate displays a lot more lightly oiled cereal character and thus isn’t as fresh as the nose would suggest. It’s also more piney and herbal with the juniper being a lot subtler. Quite floral on the middle. Long and continuing herbal with a touch...

Krucefix Smerka (Spruce) Eau de Vie 40%

Tasted: juli 2016

Dense and lightly oiled spirit notes on the nose with spruce and herbs. Pleasantly balanced with a slight piney edge and background sweetness.

The palate is soft and rounded. Lightly starchy with spruce and herbal notes. Again well balanced with a long, lightly oiled finish with lingering spices.

Krucefix Rusevje (Mountain Pine) Eau de Vie 40%

Btl: Sept 2015/ Tasted: juli 2016

Slightly fresher aromas than the spruce with a deeper, almost whisky-like character. The pine notes are quite subtle and again there is a pleasant background sweetness.

Fresh and...

Nelson’s London Dry Gin No7 42.5%...

Hunter Laing Old Malt Cask Aultmore 1991 (21 year old) 50%

Bourbon/ Code: OMC2270/ HL9869

Dist: Sept 1991 Btl: juli 2013/ Tasted: Aug 2013

A real oak and honey fest of a nose! There’s plenty of wonderfully mature, sawdusty oak, honey, lightly tropical fruit, malt and castor sugar. Deliciously aromatic and pleasantly balanced.

The palate is crisper and displays a lot less oak than the nose would lead you to believe. There’s more citrus, apricot, apple and crumbly spices with a liberal dollop of honey. Tart and tangy on the middle with a lovely cleansing piquancy. The honey counters and...

Malts of Scotland Images of Dufftown ‘St Michael’s Episcopal Church’ 53.2%...

HE8 His Excellency 8 year old Blended Scotch 40%...

Highland Laird Tennessee Whiskey 2011 (6 year old) 60%

Distilled at George Dickle/ Dist: 2011 Btl: 2016(?)/ Tasted: juni 2016

The nose displays plenty of soft but vibrant herbal rye with dark chocolate, coffee and astringent sour mash notes. However the developing sweet oak balances. Quite spicy with hints of perfumed rye and grippy, spicy rye. Wow! This is a rye fest! A touch of malt biscuits, toasted corn and violets appears with time. Raw and young but showing some lovely complexity and polish.

The palate opens with the soft, toasted corn, treacle, toffee and sweet oak. The herbal rye...

Highland Laird Jura 1988 (22 year old) 52.4%

Bourbon/ Dist: 1988 Btl: 2016(?)/ Tasted: juni 2016

Hard barley, white fruit and cider apple on the nose with hints of lime, greengage and a touch of oak. It develops hints of decomposing rose petals, pear, sweet vanilla, dusty oak, creosote and wet stones.

The palate displays more sweet barley and mature, dusty, sweet oak. Like the nose there is a faint cider apple character with barley husks and oxidised apricot. Edgy and hard with rather intrusive alcohol. Pleasantly spiced finish with a touch of walnut oil, earth and sweet, balsamic notes....

Highland Laird Auchentoshan 1992 (21 year old) 52.1%

Refill Sherry Butt(?)/ Dist: 1992 Btl: 2013(?)/ Tasted: juni 2016

The nose opens with a balsamic character, but it’s not overly dark and quite fresh, which leads me to believe that it’s been aged in a refill Butt. Hints of pruney dried fruit, raisin and green nuts along with a light rose petal note. Pleasantly mature with late olives, citrus and warm spice.

The palate is quite malty with oat cakes and creal, followed by light treacle, rose petals and fresh citrus. Like the nose it is showing a good maturity and...

Highland...

Blackadder Raw Cask Ben Nevis 1996 (18 year old) 53.3%

Dist: 1996 Btl: 2015/ Tasted: juni 2016

Thick, chunky, bready and forsquare with hints of sherry laced prunes, olive oil and dusty, mature oak. Lovely, sub-Armagnac-esque rancio and a touch of buttery/ toasty oak with time. Very complex and impressive.

The palate is moist and juicy with raisin, dates, plum and a touch of coffee and sweet treacle. Like the nose it is pleasantly dusty and mature with a lovely aged rancio. Hints of violets, toast, walnut butter and sweet spice follow. Long and spicy with a touch of crisp,...

Douglas Laing Old Particular Loch Lomond Grain 1996 (19 year old) 51.5%...

Cleveland Underground ‘Uncommon Barrel Collection’ Black Cherry Wood 47%...

Ardmore Traditional 46%

Bourbon finished in quarter casks

Tasted: Dec 2013

Quite rich and dense aromas of smoked meat and dry peat with a light perfumed note and a touch of herbal barley sugar. The oak is seriously dense but it doesn’t add much in the way of vanillins, but it does add some weighty caramel, which does impact upon the freshness that one usual equates with this distillery.

Dense and weighty on the palate with herbal flecked, dry, meaty-peaty notes and a touch of sweet barley. Again the caramelised oak impacts on the freshness. Good length with a little...

Wemyss Vintage Malts, ‘Smoke on the Water’ 1982 (31 year old) 46%

Coal Ila. Dist: 1982 Btl: 2013

Tasted: Apr 2015

Nose: Quite fresh and briny but beneath oily apricot, orange and barley notes can be discerned. Gentle, phenolic peat smoke and hints of parma violets appear and with time a touch of tar. However the citric, briny freshness balances and enhances the freshness of the aromas.

Palate: Oilier and a little denser than the nose with more toffee’d oak and barley, which impedes the fresher citric elements somewhat. Hints of coffee appears and some briny notes eventually muscle their...

That Boutique-y Whisky Company North British Batch 2 49.3%

Tasted: juni 2016

Nose: Very fragrant with cereal husks, apricot, coconut and plenty of sweet, dried fruit. With time it becomes quite herbal with a touch of wood smoke. Water emphasises the cereal and oils.

Palate: Fuller than the nose with fleshy apricot, herbs, coconut and milk chocolate. Very grainy on the middle (showing its youth) but pleasantly intense. Water emphasises the natural oils but flattens too.

Finish: Intense and sharp with a touch of oak softening the edges. Neat it is still austere though, diluted a little bitter.

Conclusion: A...

Glasgow Distillery Company Prometheus 26 year old 47%

Tasted: Sept 2015

Nose: Pungent, earthy, straw-like mature fruit aromas. A lovely melange of edgy Colombian coffee, dry, sherry spices, lush honey, plummy stewed fruit, prune and dark chocolate. Evocative and deep with a developing citrus character.

Palate: Gentle, full and mature with prune, walnut, dark honey and a sub-Armagnac-esque rancio. A lovely combination of mature fruit and oak with some biting, bittering, balancing wood spice, citrus and mineral notes.

Finish: Very long and juicy with the mature Armagnac-esque dried fruit and spice lingering. Finishes with a touch of dusty cocoa powder....

The Quiet Man “An Fear Ciuin” 2006 (8 year old) 40%

Tasted: Nov 2015

Nose: On the one hand it’s a lightly estery and slightly soapy nose but on the other it’s edgy and slightly grainy with green apple, pineapple, apricot and bolstering creamy oak. With time hints of dunnage.

Palate: A little underpowered and watery. Straightforward with hints of honey, apricot, earth and creamy oak. A little grassy note adds balances but the oak begins to dominate.

Finish: Good length with some light buzzy spices amid the toffee’d oak.

Conclusion: Not the greatest Irish whiskey I’ve ever tasted, but...

Jameson 40%

Tasted: Nov 2011

Quite a dense nose, with that boiled sweet/ confected sherry character. Actually quite well balanced with some oily Pot Still malt and pleasantly integrated floral grain balancing. With time a touch of spice appears.

Softly sherried with a slightly more homogenous palate, but the oily Pot Still malt is still present and the floral grain notes come through on the finish.

Jameson Select Reserve Small Batch 40%

Nose: Burnt tar, burnt toast and heavy treacle. Chunky and clunky with what appears to be a good degree of malt. With time some light smoke.

Palate: Soft,...